Taking the time now to settle in to your posture,
Whether you're sitting or lying down,
Paying a little more attention to our breathing and for the first few moments perhaps just counting up to three or four on the in-breath,
Three or four on the out-breath,
Just to establish a nice,
Soft,
Gentle breathing pattern.
Not too hard,
Not too rigid.
Are we able to keep the breathing quite easy,
Quite relaxed,
No pressure?
And we can let go of the breathing and the counting and just be a bit more present here,
Sat down or lying down,
Maybe noticing how our body is in this moment as we begin to settle down a little bit more.
So you can notice areas of tension.
You can notice where your mind is being pulled towards within the body.
Maybe even noticing how the mind is distracted by thoughts,
By noises.
And in this meditation,
Just like any meditation,
We can allow all of that to just be here.
We're not trying to create a perfect experience.
We're not here to prescribe how it should be.
Just being able to allow things to be as they are in this moment.
And I wonder if we can start to bring an image of what compassion is to us.
It may be just a colour.
It may be something quite specific or something important to you,
Something that has meaning.
Maybe a friend,
A family member,
An animal.
Maybe some kind of religious deity,
Something that you can relate to.
But the idea being here that as we just sit or lie down,
We are relating to an image or a colour that possesses a lot of empathy and compassion for the whole world around us.
Something solid in its belief.
Something endless.
Constantly compassionate to all things out there in the world,
Out there in the universe.
And as we focus on this image or this colour,
Just imagining that as we breathe in,
We are breathing in its properties,
We are breathing in its essence,
Breathing in its healing vibrations perhaps.
And at this part of the meditation,
Imagining that we're drawing in these things into the middle of our forehead and down into the body.
Just perhaps knowing that this image,
This colour,
We're drawing in the properties in through our forehead down into the body and how this colour,
How this essence has the potential to heal us from the inside.
It has the potential to soften and to love all that is within us.
It may be a swirling image of colour moving around the body as you breathe in,
As you direct that energy in through the forehead and down into the body.
It may be something that's quite gradual,
Starting from the head and just moving down bit by bit through all the different body parts.
But just sitting here and allowing that to happen without too much effort,
Noticing how that actually feels,
How you are sensing this moment inside the body.
In your own time,
You can extend this time.
But for this moment,
We're going to just gently shift our attention from the forehead.
And can we direct this essence,
This healing energy into the base of our throat?
The place where our voice begins,
Where sometimes our emotions gather.
So focusing our attention on this area and drawing in the essence,
Drawing in the energy of compassion,
Healing compassion into our throat.
And perhaps drawing in the sensations of joy and gratitude into the throat and then dissipating within the body.
How does that feel as you gently imagine this happening in real time?
Perhaps purifying our negative emotions,
Perhaps slowly healing all those old hurts,
All those old emotions.
Are we able to just sit or lie here and allow this to happen?
Noticing how we're feeling,
Noticing the sensations in the throat area.
And again,
In our own time,
We can lengthen the amount of time we spend at a particular part of the body.
But for now,
Are we able to move this area of attention down towards the middle of the chest?
The heart space.
Drawing in the essence,
Drawing in the energy,
Imagining colour moving in through the heart centre,
Spreading out into the body.
Noticing any subtle differences compared to the previous parts of the body.
Refocusing on the chest area and the in and outward flow of our breathing and this healing,
Compassionate energy.
And so just taking the time now to let this happen.
How is the body feeling?
Are we able to open this heart centre even more and also begin to include the throat area and also our forehead?
With this healing,
Compassionate energy now moving through these three areas all at once.
Down into the body,
In and around the mind.
Perhaps moving outside of the body now and out into the wider space around us.
Completely surrounding us with healing,
Compassion,
Energy,
Source and essence.
Whatever it might be for you.
And to just sit here,
Allowing it all to happen.
